Latest news with #NMForestry
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Two small NM fires erupt Sunday, including one in Grants neighborhood that burned 14 structures
Members of the Mimbres wildland firefighting team dig fire line during a wildfire in 2024. (Photo Courtesy NM Forestry) Two small wildfires prompted evacuations and burned a few structures in the Grants and Socorro areas Sunday, though a state Forestry spokesperson said Monday that crews were making progress. Witnesses spotted the Otero Fire in the bosque east of Socorro and the Alamo Fire in a neighborhood in Grants on Sunday evening. The Grants Fire is fully contained at between 3 and 5 acres, said Forestry spokesperson George Ducker. Despite progress overnight in Socorro, where crews built a fire line across the northern edge of the 360-acre fire, the Otero Fire is 0% contained, Ducker said. The causes of both fires remains under investigation, Ducker said, though they occurred amid high winds and ongoing drought across the state. The National Interagency Fire Center earlier this month warned that most of the state would experience above-normal wildfire risk, and that the risk would spread to the western two-thirds of the state as May approaches. A new forecast is expected in the next few days. High winds around 7 p.m. pushed the Alamo Fire on the east side Grants into structures, burning eight structures and six outbuildings and prompting evacuations. Residents are being allowed to return this morning, Ducker said, and crews will focus on watching for hotspots and dealing with the burned structures, now that the fire is fully contained. In the Socorro-area fire, crews detected active wildfire burning on the south end of the perimeter. They plan today to hold and increase containment lines. No structures are threatened in that fire, and no evacuation orders are in effect.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
NM wildfire outlook above normal for most of state
Crews work to secure containment lines on the Mogote Hill Fire near Wagon Mound in mid-March. Wildfire potential will be above normal in most of the state this month, according to a new outlook. (Photo courtesy NM Forestry) National fire weather forecasters warn that most of New Mexico will face above-normal fire potential this month, and those conditions will worsen until at least until the monsoon season begins in July. The National Interagency Fire Center issued its April wildfire outlook Tuesday, presenting a series of maps showing New Mexico with snow pack far below normal, along with severe drought and above normal average temperatures expected throughout the summer. Those factors combine to make the state, particularly the western two-thirds, at high risk of wildfires beginning in May, according to forecasters. 'It's bad': How drought, lack of snowpack and federal cuts could spell wildfire disaster in NM So far in New Mexico this year, 222 wildfires have started, affecting 31,675 acres. Humans caused the vast majority of those fires, according to the Southwest Coordination Center. The Mogote Hill Fire near Wagon Mound, which burned an estimated 15,000 acres, ranks as the biggest New Mexico fire so far this year. Last week, New Mexico State Forestry released daily wildfire awareness tips, including how and when to safely burn debris. The above-normal wildfire potential occurs amid federal cuts to the United States Forest Service, including probationary employees who often had wildfire suppression training. Proposed federal lease terminations also include two New Mexico wildfire dispatch centers covering one-third of the state, though U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich's office recently told Source New Mexico that he had received 'assurances' that the dispatch centers would stay open. A Heinrich spokesperson noted, however, that his office was still awaiting official confirmation about the dispatch centers from the General Services Administration. The Heinrich spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday as to whether that official confirmation had yet arrived.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Utility line caused 21,000-acre Mogote Hill Fire, which is now under control
Crews work to secure containment lines on the Mogote Hill Fire near Wagon Mound this weekend. (Photo courtesy NM Forestry) A fast-moving wildfire near Wagon Mound that ignited Friday is now under control, according to a State Forestry spokesperson, and investigators also determined that a utility line was the cause. The Mogote Hill Fire in Northern New Mexico grew to 21,300 acres, according to dispatch records. That's a little more than 33 square miles. The grass fire ignited a little after noon Friday amid dry conditions and high winds, prompting evacuation orders along a nearby state highway. Multiple state crews responded and made significant progress over the weekend. Precipitation over the wildfire also helped, Forestry spokesperson George Ducker said in an emailed statement. The threat to a few structures in the area has passed, and evacuation orders are no longer in effect, Ducker said. Ducker told Source New Mexico said he did not know who owned the utility line that sparked the blaze, and referred the issue for comment to the Mora County Sheriff's Office, which had not responded by publication Monday morning. 'Stonewalling': Forest Service mum on firings during wildfire briefing for congressional staff Rural electrical co-operatives own most of the utility lines in that area. This legislative session, lawmakers are considering House Bill 334, which would remove liability for rural electrical co-ops that spark a wildfire as long as they've submitted wildfire mitigation plans in advance for approval by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. Lawmakers have told Source New Mexico the bill is an attempt to prevent lawsuits from bankrupting small electrical co-operatives that typically have little cash on hand, especially in high wind events during ongoing drought. At an interim Legislative Finance Committee last summer, Rep. Joe Sanchez (D-Alcalde) said a lawsuit against the Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, where Sanchez used to work, ultimately had to pay $25 million for its role in the Las Conchas Fire in 2011. The amount of risk co-ops face from wildfire lawsuits limits the amount of insurance they can secure, he said, and after the Las Conchas Fire, the co-op can only get $2 million to $3 million in coverage. 'Any lawsuit would put the co-ops in bankruptcy, and all that's going to do is drive up costs for poor people in our rural areas,' he said at the meeting. HB334, which Sanchez and four other lawmakers sponsored, is awaiting a hearing at the House Rural Development, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee. The committee's schedule for the last week of the session has not yet been released.
